Trump’s Hidden Message

While GOP leaders are breathlessly talking about stopping Donald Trump’s candidacy, no one seems to be taking stock of why Trump has been so wildly popular with his supporters.

These GOP big shots seem to have correctly diagnosed the shattering effect his candidacy could have on the current amalgam called the Republican Party. Trump as the Presidential nominee would expose the GOP for what it is – a collection of ideological desperate elements with no single unifying purpose, save one. The one unifying GOP theme is “we are not Democrats” whatever that means.

The current Republican Party rrepresents a collection of regular Americans mixed in with “bible thumpers” who instead of espousing Christian values like “love thy neighbor” prefer to hate others for their gender or sexual preferences, “wealthy Americans” who want to pay less taxes despite any consequences, “xenophobes” who may even be one generation in the US but want the door closed for other immigrants, “budget hawks” who want to reduce the deficit without regard to any consequences, and “hard core of anti-Obama critics” who see anything done by the President as inherently worthless.

So, which of these groups has Trump successfully satisfied? Hmmm.

The hidden Trump message appeals to a few of these segments, but resonates strongly with a differently defined group, the Trumpskiites.

These new Trump frontier fighters are feeling an economic pinch, have looked around and see a lot of government spending going to assist this designated group or that one, and no noticeable sign that homelessness or poverty is improving.

The Trumpskiites see the US throwing good money after bad and want one of two things. (1) Stop spending money on the poor, refugees, and corporate welfare seekers. Or, (2) energize the economy so much that they (each Trumpskiite) gets a good job or pay increase so big that their lot in life improves so much they can overlook the tax money going to the other “freeloaders”.

The Trumpskiites are not ideologues. They may or may not care about abortion or women’s rights, they may or may not care about refugees, they may or may not care about religious symbols in public spaces, they may or may not care about gender and sexual orientations, and for the most part they are ambivalent about Obamacare. What they care about is their own personal lot in life and see the government wasting a lot of money on the poor and a diverse collection of other things.

Trumpskiites are first and foremost about themselves. They are relatively content to let others get along with their lives providing they do not adversely impact their lives. Hmmm.

If this observation is correct, it is not a large step of logic to recognize that Trumperskiites should exist within the Democrat Party too. In fact, they might make up the real “silent majority”. Hmmm.

Trump’s hidden message exposes Republican and Democrat shortcomings: Republicans may wish not to spend any more Federal dollars even though the bridge in their hometown is about to fall down, and Democrats are only to ready to spend money to build a new one even though the bridge might be cheaper to repair or might not be needed at all. Trumpskiites could support either position, let the bridge fall down or repair it but only if life gets economically better for them first. Hmmm.

This is a dangerous message pitting individuals against common good while exposing politicians more interested in perpetuating their time in office than caring for the public good. Will Americans wake up and demand better from their elected officials?